Washington, 25 February 2025 (dpa/MIA) - French President Emmanuel Macron sees "substantial progress" after his consultations with US President Donald Trump on Monday about the war in Ukraine.

There are concrete talks about an action plan to achieve a lasting peace in which Ukraine will be involved, Macron said after his meeting at the White House.

"I believe that today was a turning point in our discussions," he said.

"We share your desire to make peace," the French leader told Trump but added: "Peace cannot mean the surrender of Ukraine."

The French leader said discussion about security guarantees from both the Europeans and the United States also took place.

Macron insisted on a "lasting peace" and said a ceasefire without security guarantees would not hold.

France has already discussed with Britain the question of sending peacekeeping troops as part of security guarantees.

"We are also aware that the Europeans must do more for security in Europe, for defence in Europe and for a fairer distribution of the security burden," said Macron.

Trump sees Ukraine ceasefire happening more quickly than agreement

In the search for peace in Ukraine, Trump believes a ceasefire is possible before a lasting peace is reached.

"I'd like to go directly to an agreement, but ceasefire will always happen a little bit quicker," he said at a joint press conference with Macron.

Every day that the fighting could be stopped sooner would save hundreds, sometimes thousands of lives, Trump said. "So we want to see if we can get that done very quickly."

Trump repeated his statement that he believes the Russian side also intends to end the fighting.

Trump says Putin would accept European peacekeepers

Russian President Vladimir Putin would agree to European peacekeeping forces to secure a possible ceasefire in Ukraine, Trump said.

Asked, "Will you convince Vladimir Putin to accept European troops as peacekeepers?" Trump responded, "Yeah, he will accept."

Trump said he wanted to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky this week or next, to talk about US access to Ukrainian raw materials.

Trump said the two countries were very close to an agreement.

The deal would link US aid to Ukraine granting access to its valuable and strategic rare earth resources.

"We're helping Ukraine like nobody's ever helped Ukraine before," said the US president, adding he did not want the war in Ukraine to escalate into a third World War.

Contract about Ukrainian resources

The US and Ukraine have been wrestling over the contract for weeks. Zelensky initially refused to sign an agreement, saying its conditions were unfavourable for Ukraine.

In addition, it did not contain any security guarantees for his country, Zelensky said, which is still fending off Russian attacks in the war launched by Moscow in 2022. Ukraine explicitly demanded such guarantees, though it remains to be seen whether a revised proposal contains them.

According to the Ukrainian public broadcaster, Kiev has already sent a final version of the framework agreement on access to Ukrainian raw materials to Washington.

The exploitation of Ukraine's raw materials in Ukraine is considered to be both strategically important and economically lucrative.

But analysts say Kiev is likely to need rare earths and other raw materials for its own reconstruction, even if that means using resources from Russian-occupied Ukrainian territories.

Putin offers US deal on rare earth deposits

For his part, Putin proposed joint exploration of rare earth deposits with the US, including those in Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine.

Russia is ready to work with its partners, including the US, in this matter, Putin said during an interview for state television.

He added that Russia holds some of the world's largest deposits in the far north of the country, as well as in the Caucasus, Siberia, the Far East and the illegally occupied territories of Ukraine, which he referred to as the "new territories."

Putin had previously discussed the development of raw materials mining with ministers and other representatives of the state in a video conference.

Macron's meeting with Trump comes days after the French president held a conference with the leaders of 19 European countries and Canada to strengthen coordination on Ukraine.

That followed a crisis summit Macron hosted in Paris about a potential peacekeeping force on the ground in Ukraine.

The discussions come as Europe faces a critical question: how to respond to the United States' dramatic shift in its Ukraine policy under Trump.

Washington is seeking to push Zelensky and Putin towards negotiations while transferring responsibility for securing a peace agreement to Europe.

Photo: EPA